I really dislike a lot of medical professionals. Nurses generally piss me of the most. They almost always take my blood pressure three times. I don’t squirm. I am quiet. They always look at the reading, look at me, frown and take it another time with a vengence. All you nurses listen close: NOT ALL FAT PEOPLE HAVE HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE!!!
I am sick of the fucking nurses telling me that my weight is the problem. The last few years i have gone to the doctor because of a ganglion cyst on my finger, a sore elbow, a sore knee, stomach pain, bronchitis. and an asthma attack. The only thing that was possibly weight related was my knee problem, but the exerise can cause knee problems in thin ppl.
Every time the nurse has made comments on my weight. They have ranged from the snide to downright nasty. I know i am overweight. I know that has associated health risks. It does not follow that I will die young or that my marriage will suffer because of it yet nurses have told me this. I don’t need attitude from them. Yes they need to get my stats, they don’t need to judge me.
Sometime nurses are also skeptical when i describe a problem. They leave me with the impression that they do not believe me.
me, “I have blood in the stuff that comes out when I cough. I think i coughed my throat raw.”
Nurse, “I doubt that! You probably ate something red.”
me, “No, I haven’t. I have had chicken broth and water and yellow cough drops.”
Nurse, “It isn’t blood.”
me, <coughs up a good, green, brown, and bright red lugey and spits it into a tissue> “Wanna test that for blood? It tasted bloody to me.”
Nurse frowns and writes something down and leaves without the sample i had provided.
Doctor comes in, “I see you have blood in you sputum.”
I have also had nurses that tried to override the doctors instructions. One tried to tell me I had to have some kind of “block” for my hand surgery. I told her that I would be having a local only and she tried to tell me it could not be done and tried to tell me the horrors it would cause. I started to argu and she implied that me resisting what she had to say indicated i had deficient mental health and intellegence. I had enough and stepped out into the hall and called for a the doctor or at “least a saine nurse.” The doctor walked by and I told him that she refused to brief me for the procedure that he had told me I would undergo when she intterupted, literal pushing me aside and started to tell him how uncooperative i was. I hate being pushed. He looked abit startled and told her that I was indeed going to have a local for surgery and told her he would brief me himself an she should go calm herself down.
I like that doctor. The surgery went well, local only, and it fixed the problem with no complications.
Yes, they exist. One put a nylon catheter in my husband after he explained he was allergic to nylon (his chart also noted this allergy) and he asked 3 times if it were nylon. She insisted that it “Would not bother him.” and put it place. The doctor yanked it out when he saw it a couple hours later. My husband’s penis had swelled alamingly and turned red. They pumped him fill of antihistiamine via IV. His penis bled. It itched and burned for weeks. Fortunately he can still function.
When questioned why she did not heed the chart or the patient’s warning she said, “I thought it was an exaggeration,” and that a skin irritation is not a serious reaction. Nylon breaks him out like poison ivy.
Tiggeril, stand your ground. I have nurses in the family and Iv’e heard all the stories about rude patients. The unfortunate thing is that for the most part they are a very small percentage of the total load, but their effect goes way beyond their numbers. I have also been a patient, off and on, for the last three years suffering from kidney stones. I have never, at the hospital or the office, had a bad experience with staff. They have all been polite and sympathetic. Maybe my experience is atypical, but it is true. I’m forty-five and afraid of needles(I’ve cried when they have to onsert IV’s.)Never was I treated like the baby I felt I was being, the nurses just patted my hand and told me about how some football players they have treated faint at the first sign of blood or an injection. You sound like a reasonable caring person, while it seems some of the other posters have some unresolved anger to work out.
Tiggeril if this weren’t the pit I would probably tell you that you that it takes a big person to admit that they over reacted to a situation and that I have a lot of respect for you as a poster because you did admit that. I would also probably say that your apology is graciously accepted… however since this is the pit I better not.
I’d like to chime in with a small rant about the nurses and receptionists in pediatricians offices, which hasn’t been addressed here.
In my experience, they’ve all been trained to deal with one type of parent: A hyperactive bitch of a mother who’s overreacting to a pimple on her kid’s ass. Excuse me! I’m not hysterical. I’m informed, I’m not of the opinion that since I’m on an HMO I’ll call for any old thing and Ma’am? Excuse me? I wouldn’t be CALLING if there wasn’t a problem. My kid is not COMPLAINING. He or she has a legitimate symptom; don’t condescend to me and imply it’s overblown whining!
Everything aha says about having to explain the problem is multipled times two in a pediatrician’s office. I’ve had to tell the receptionist full symptoms, only to have her dispense medical advice. Furious, I questioned the doctor, who told me that since kids seem to get the same kind of junk, the receptionists are instructed in basic advice.
What crap. Could all her years of medical school could be boiled down to a few instructions for a receptionist, I asked? hm, didn’t think so. Now when I call I ask for a nurse, at least, first and if I get the “settle down ma’am” treatment (and believe me, I don’t shout or rant) I immediately ask for the doctor and say I’ll wait as long as it takes.
Baker, In my experience the nurses treat you worse if you don’t act like a baby. Most, especially older nurses, seem to react negatively to informed patients.
In my experience, most health professionals react negatively to informed patients. It’s because they can’t work their magical God complexes on people who aren’t dazzled by medical jargon and who have made a choice to be critical consumers.
There’s a new doctor at my clinic. I saw him a couple of months ago for bronchitis.
When he entered the exam room, he pulled over the little stool on wheels and sat down. He proceeded to tell me how one of his instructors had told him to always sit down when seeing a patient, because sitting will make it seem like you’ve spent more time with the patient.
I thought, this doctor is doubly clever. He not only sits down, indicating that he’s ready to give me all the time I need, but he takes me into his confidence by telling me about this little doctor trick.
If he can remember me the next time I see him, and not tell the story again, I’ll know he’s a keeper.
I am extremely critical of what my doctor says to me. I personally, have found alternative therapies that are more along a preventive vein, and consequently have saved the Ontario Health Insurance Plan more than a couple of bucks.
Disclaimer: My point is that I choose to be an informed consumer and reserve the right to make health care choices for myself. Not that alternative or complimentary therapies are better than allopathic medicine or are even good for everyone.
Actually, one of the things I’ve noticed is that the providers most critical towards informed patients are the ones who shouldn’t be practicing medecine on Cabbage Patch dolls, much less humans. It runs parallel to the adage about those who know the least speak the loudest.
I can, however, understand those who are a little leery about alternative medecines. Many could interact negatively with allopathic remedies, and most doctors want to be sure they’re not going to kill the patient.
PAs and nurse practitioners DO assist doctors… by taking patients with routine problems that don’t always need the direct management of an MD/DO. They’re qualified, and in some cases more so than an MD (IMHO) to take care of most routine, noncomplicated conditions, including physical exams, medication checks, noncomplicated chronic conditions, and so forth. They are required to be under the license and supervision of an MD/DO at all times.
In fact, PAs help the health care cost stay down by keeping the doctor’s time free for patients with more complicated problems. If it weren’t for PAs and NPs, the cost for a doctor’s visit would double, and so would the waiting time for an appointment. Small towns would suffer the most because of the limitations on access to medical care in the first place. This was the impetus behind PAs and NPs in the first place.
Finally, if you don’t want to be treated by a PA or a NP, let the receptionist know. You don’t have to be seen by anyone you don’t want to be seen by.
When you’re talking to the receptionist or the nurse, it’s OK to be very general. They are just trying to set things up so your visit will go more smoothly. You can say, “My stomach is bothering me,” or “I’m here for a checkup,” or something like that. More often than not, they don’t want more detail than that. Of course, if it’s more sensitive than even that (and it often is), it’s perfectly OK to say, “I’d rather just speak to the doctor about it, thanks.”
Every doctor has his or her own style of interviewing. I like to start along the lines of, “So what brings you here today?” without looking at the chart so I can get my own unbiased perspective. I will usually write down the response verbatim before going on. (Others really prefer to look at the chart first, so they can focus the interview off the bat. Their way is more efficient, but mine is more thorough.)
Many doctors do have a critical attitude toward informed patients, but that is changing. People used to consider the doctor their chief source of information, but the increased availability and accessibility of medical info, coupled with an increasing distrust of doctors, has led more patients to become informed about their conditions and medications from additional sources. For the most part, I think this is a good thing. A lot of doctors, especially older ones, just haven’t figured out how to deal with this type of patient yet.
Also, there are many patients who think they’re informed when they’re not, and that their medical opinion is every bit as good as the doctor’s. Their information might come from clearly biased sources (particularly those selling alternative treatments), or from an anecdotal instance of their mother’s cousin’s grandson’s piano teacher having a similar problem. They might just be misunderstanding a complex point. Therefore, the doctor has to be wary of any “informed” patient, to make sure that info is actually good.
I do tend to talk about “little doctor tricks” while I’m doing an H&P, but only because I think they’re neat. I think the best way to get trust from a patient is to be as genuine as possible.
The way that nurses and doctors generally treat informed patients is inexcusable. I have known doctors that got stubborn if you said I think i have x. They would not diagnose that patient with x to save his own life. My husband just went through that with an asshole that cut all his medication in half which triggered urinary tract stones Which makes sense. he was on medication that helps regulates uric acid levels in his system and the stones are most likely made of that. His doctor was patronizing and told my husband not to be concerned.
When my husband was injured by the Army and could not walk one docto diagnosed him with onversion disorder. That meant my husband only thought he could not walk. When my husband tried to move his leg at the knee he experienced extreme pain. It hurt all the time, but when he tried to bear weight on it or move the knee much it got much worse. A few years later, my husband was put in touch with a surgeon in the Philly VA hospital. This guy was interested in sports medicine and would willingly poke around Vernon’s knee and see if he could fix it. Since my husband was in constant pain and could not walk, he jumped at the chance. Turns out that there were bone fragments in his knee. They did not show on x-rays because they tended to hide out under his now concave knee cap. His AC was shredded and his knee gennerally misshapen and a nerve and 2 ligaments had been shredded. This doctor resculpted Vernon’s knee. He was so pleased he signed his work in radio opaque dye and his initials appear on x-rays of the area to this day. Vernon did not have the constant pain any more. He could move his leg and the day after surgery he was doing some supported walking. With in months his legs were of equal size and he could walk normally. He went back to the asshole that had written conversion disorder on his medical records and testified to the VA that there was no physical reason Vernon should get disability. He just shrugged it off.
At one point vernon seemed to have a bladder infection and was drinking extra to help that. He stopped urinating. He could not go more than a trickle and that was quickly cut off. The doctor he talked to refused to admit it was a problem or could be a blockage and would not schedule an appointment. Finally Vernon begged a ride to the VA hospital. Since he was there the doctor said he would indulge him and do an exam. When trying to use the cystoscope he could not put it in place. He said there seemed to be a blockage of some sort. After talking with Vernon and other doctors, he decided to force it through. The doctor was immedieately sprayed with a huge amount of urine. One of the other doctors, when he stopped laughing, told Vernon that it was lucky he had better sense that his doctor because another day and he might well have burst.
Cecil’s recent column about patients who think they have bugs seem to reflect this attitude as well. Yes, there are patients who only think they have parasites. Others do. I think doctors make up their mind before the exam as to what is true.
I found a new doctor that seems to listen to what i am saying. He explained his diagnoses and gave me additional literature about the problem. He is not very young, but not ancient either. He did not talk down to me. I was amazed. The first nurse I encountered in his office was a bitch, but the second only took my blood pressure twice instead of 3 times and actually did not give me the lose weight lecture. I am amazed and happy.
Even those this is a rant, I can’t help but feel we’re srongly painting health care professionals with one broad brush. I’ve had times when I’d rather have been treated by the caring, competent nurse than the rude doctor, and times when I couldn’t wait for the busybody bitch of a nurse to bug off so the doctor could take over.
Family nurse practioners kick ass–some of you really object to them?!?
I think the best way to get trust from a patient is to be as genuine as possible.